Elaborate hairdos were hardly in short supply in downtown Savannah on Saturday. Tim Vezzi of Guyton didn’t just stop with a bright green mohawk — he also shaved the hair off the sides of his head, save for a couple shamrock-shaped patches.

Vezzi has been sporting a mohawk on special events for the last nine months as part of a bet with co-workers.

“It keeps morale up and the redheads like it,” he said.

Vezzi’s 5-year-old son, Anderson, also wore his hair in a mohawk cut, though it wasn’t green. Though he’s lived nearby for six years, Vezzi said the two had never been to Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day parade before.

“I’ve never had a care to do it, but now that I’ve been here, I’ll keep coming back,” he said. “It’s been a blast.”

No matter what you might have wanted to do Saturday afternoon on River Street, it was pretty much guaranteed you’d have to stand in line.

Long lines formed at bar entrances, the portable toilets, beer and food stands and for the ferry.

There were even huge lines just to get up or down to the street.

“I’m glad I’ve had a lot of beer,” said Justin Djanko. “I don’t think I could handle standing in line for every single thing I’m doing if I wasn’t feeling pretty, you know, good.”

The 32-year-old from Orlando laughed as he took the last swig of beer from his to-go cup.

“Man, it’ll be like 15 minutes to get another one. You think I can get three?”

Bride to be

Barbara Tighe lives in White Plains, N.Y., and that’s where she is getting married on April 21. So, her bachelorette party was Saturday in Savannah, of course.

“Because Savannah is the place to be and I love St. Patrick’s Day,” said Tighe, 34. “I’ve read all about Savannah.”

Tighe, who works in insurance, brought along three bridesmaids, and they collected a groomsman somewhere along the way. Tighe said they will leave town today and don’t have any stories yet that she can’t tell her fiance, Christopher McCann.

“What happens in Savannah, stays in Savannah,” she said, laughing.

Cooling off

As the parade wound down and the party moved toward City Market and River Street Saturday afternoon, dozens of people discovered a little oasis of refreshment.

Children and, well, grown children, took turns running and splashing through the fountain at Ellis Square, a momentary refresher on one of the warmest days of 2012.

Jordan Jackson sat and watched as his 3- and 5-year-old sons played in the water.

“They like this way more than the parade, I think,” he said. “I don’t know, they didn’t last too long. I think with all the people and the noise, it’s a lot for them to handle.

“But they love that water. I think they’re going to be good and worn out after that.”

Jackson’s eyes lit up as he wiped sweat off his forehead.

“Maybe they’re on to something,” he said and then jogged into the fountain and threw one of his kids into a bear hug.

Not Irish, but still green

Recent college graduate Michael Collins, was, like many parade attendees Saturday, wearing a lot of green.

Unlike most other people, however, Collins’ get-up wasn’t inspired by Ireland as much as the virtual land of “Super Mario Brothers.”

An oversized hat showing the letter “L” and suspenders complementing his mustache, Collins walked the streets dressed as Luigi from the popular Nintendo game franchise.

“I wore green last year and I had a mustache, and every body kept calling me ‘Luigi’ so I decided to just go with it,” he said.

Nothing stops the mail

Marcus Mobley, daily mail carrier for 10 blocks along the parade route, was a man on a mission Saturday. He’d started his route hours early at 6:30 a.m. and didn’t expect to finish until 3:30 p.m. or later.

As a native Savannahian, he’s used to the crowds and tells other, less-experienced carriers to “just have fun and be safe” on parade days.

Mobley’s had the parade route duty for about six years. He stops when the crowd gets thick and lets it pass. On at least one occasion Saturday, he had a visit from a kissing bandit who went back for more lipstick.

Cruising out

A massive cargo ship caught the attention of hundreds of St. Patrick’s Day partygoers as it moved down the Savannah River along River Street heading out to the ocean.

Siblings James, 7, Jacob, 4, and Madison Cheshire, 3, marveled at the ship as they waited in the long, long line to take the ferry back to Hutchinson Island.

“I want to ride it,” Madison said.

“It’s cool,” James added.

Their parents, Kristin and Bill Cheshire of Rincon, said they’ve been coming to St. Patrick’s Day in Savannah for years, but this year was just a little too much for their young children.

“Can I have some beads? Can I have some beads?” The question rose above the din time and again from behind the barricade on East Broad Street.

Though he only had only accumulated three sets of green beads by around 2 p.m., 10-year-old Angel Soto wasn’t about to give up. Each time a new crew in the parade turned from Broughton Street onto East Broad, Soto and Noah Yates, also 10, would make their demands known.

The two were friendly, but they weren’t old friends.

“We just met,” Yates said.

Saturday was Soto’s second year going to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and, beads or no beads, he was having a fun time.

“My favorite part is when the pirate ship spins,” Soto said. “And the Army, too.”

Men in skirts

Andrew Weisenberger clomped around Bay Street on Saturday in a pair of black, calf-high leather boots that took on Lady Gaga-ish proportions. He bought them online, he said, and combined with the plaid kilt, tattoos and multiple piercings, they gave him a hard-core celebration look.

“I’m full-blooded Scottish,” he said. “I prepare for this day all year. It’s my holiday.”

The challenge of walkin’ around in those big ole boots was nothing compared to the challenge he and four friends had finding a hotel room.

Weisenberger, a soldier based at Fort Stewart, ended up in Hardeeville, S.C., with his friends. They found a hotel there for $200 a night and shuttle service. They tried calling Friday around Savannah to see whether any rooms had been held back. The answer they got: A one room with one bed was going for $1,000 a night.

Green on the face

Passing two young women with green mustaches in Lafayette Square, Jeff Amiri had to comment.

“You have that on upside down,” he said, and pointed to his forehead, where the same stick-on mustache was serving as his Irish eyebrows for the day.

Marching in the round

There were plenty of people marching the streets of Savannah during the parade, but only a select few did so from inside the confines of plastic spheres.

Savannah College of Art and Design students Lucas Beecham, Austin Blunk and Ian Matler took turns walking the route inside bright red “power balls” for the Georgia lottery crew.

“The best part is definitely just being a fool in them,” Blunk said.

Though being inside the balls was hot, Beecham said the biggest complication came from parade-goers.

“One of the worst parts is people would just come up and push on you,” he said, mimicking a body-slam motion.

Special T-shirts

Wright Square was awash in green Saturday, except for the odd pedicab driver. T-shirts of note included: “If found passed out, call ...” and a drawing of Snoopy at a water spigot saying “I need a drink.”

If the shirt fits ...

Dr. Seuss might be spinning in his grave.

As a St. Patrick’s Day spin on the popular “Thing 1” and “Thing 2” costumes from “The Cat in the Hat,” people wore “Drunk 1” and “Drunk 2” shirts.

“There’s a whole group of us, Drunk 1 through 4,” said Becca Sands, 21, a student at the College of Charleston.

A group of about 15 friends came from various places to Savannah on Friday to enjoy the festivities. Sands’ friend, Lauren Risse, a student at the University of Georgia, said her goal this weekend was “a good time.”

Mission accomplished?

“I think so,” she said from the area near Wright Square.

Asked the most unusual things they’d seen on their first visit to Savannah for the holiday, Sands said, “Leprechauns. Lots of leprechauns.”

About 2 p.m. Saturday, while the parade was still winding around downtown, teams of workers swept along River Street, where crowds already were swarming, and managed to empty all the trash and recycling cans. Maurice Green, a supervisor with Downtown Services, wasn’t sure crews could make a second pass because River Street was quickly becoming standing-room-only.

He and a dozen other members of the downtown cleanup crew were working with sanitation personnel to keep trash on River, Bay, Congress and Bryan picked up as best they could. One employee, Darren Crumley, likened it to trying to blow out a trick birthday candle. As soon as they got a container empty, they would turn around and it was full again.

The cleanup plan called for sanitation and street-cleaning crews to follow the parade, but that’s easier said than done.

“The problem is so many people are still partying in the street,” said Susan Broker, director of the Citizens Office. “(The crews) will probably get the first initial sweep and we’ll have to go back again.”

Other teams of employees were scheduled to be deployed about 3 a.m., as bars closed, to continue the cleanup efforts, hopefully as the crowds finally go home.

For Green, a 23-year city employee, this St. Patrick’s does not compare to any other he’s worked.

“This is the most I’ve ever seen,” he said. “All of Bay Street was packed at one time, and all of River Street was packed at one time. They were coming like ants.”

‘That’s my bro’

Responding to a sudden outburst of yelling, a pair of bulky men rushed to what appeared to be a fracas next to the World War II monument on River Street.

But the men were pleasantly surprised when the fight turned out to be staged.

“That’s my bro,” said a man dressed as a leprechaun with a beer hat. “We’re doing our thing.”

The group, laughing now, passed around a flask and exchanged half-hugs.

“It’s St. Patrick’s Day,” one of them said. “Drinking, not fighting.”

Best friends for life

Maddie Zwemer, 7, and Sydnie Zak, 7, are truly best friends for life. They became best buds when their families lived in North Carolina.

But Sydnie’s family moved to St. Augustine, and Maddie’s Family moved to Savannah.

The St. Patrick’s Day parade was a great reason for their families to reunite. They say they plan to make it an annual tradition.

Staking a claim

Stephen Ezelle knows a good piece of land when he sees one.

Ezelle, who works in commercial real estate in Savannah, had arrived at Wright Square at 5:30 a.m. Saturday and scoped out a corner lot, where he put up a tent with his alma mater’s name, the University of South Carolina.

To the east was a rival University of Georgia tent. To the north, a Clemson tent.

Standing to his immediate left was his friend and neighbor, Arguile Fitzsimmons.

“I’m a Bulldogs fan,” said Fitzsimmons, 36, who graduated from UGA in 1999. “It’s tough. He’s my neighbor in real life. We have to live with each other.”

As for sports rivals coming together Saturday, Ezelle, 32, said: “It’s all about St. Patrick’s Day.”

They had congregated past years in Lafayette and Chippawa squares, but thought Wright would be right for 2012.

“It’s more family friendly,” said Ezelle, father of an 18-month-old girl.

“So far,” said Fitzsimmons, father of sons 3 and 7. “It’s still early.”

They figured their children would be worn out soon enough.

“They’ll need a nap about 2 or 3,” Fitzsimmons said. “I’ll need a nap about 6, 6 to 6.”

While they were winding down, the group under the Clemson tent expected a long night ahead. Caleb Lee of Summerville, S.C., and his girlfriend, Savannah native and resident Amy West, were hosting a collection of high school and college friends — two girls and six guys.

West’s home has three bedrooms and two beds, which meant some of the guys were going to be on couches, or worse.

Thomas Gaede, 27, of Clemson, slept on the floor Friday night.

“An hour, probably,” said Gaede, a mechanical engineer spending his first St. Patrick’s Day in Savannah.

Lee said they likely would pack up at dark, go to West’s home to clean up, and then hit the downtown clubs Saturday night. More friends were coming to Savannah for a bachelor party.

Raiders pride

The Savannah Christian football team road a float as parade watchers rallied behind the Raiders in recognition of the school winning its first GHSA state title back in December.

Coach Donald Chumley and his assistants road the float, with his team in tow.

“This has been a great day,” said Savannah Christian star Nardo Govan, who will play football for Georgia Southern next year.

“There were so many people out there and a lot of fans who were cheering us on,” Govan said. “It was bigger than life to have this kind of experience. We’re proud to have brought home the championship trophy, and proud to be able to celebrate it with the city today.”

Sleepy time

Nino Aliotta III was marching, or getting strolled, in his first St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The 6-month old son of Nino II and Brandy Aliotta was following his sister, dancing through the route with a group of Irish dancers. Despite the commotion, Nino was out cold early in the parade, much to the amusement of his parents.

First-timer

Rick Klenke of the Shriners Alee Temple was sticking out like a sore thumb at Saturday’s festivities — dressed head to toe in a light shade of purple. Klenke has lived in Savannah since the 1980s and has been to numerous St. Patrick’s Day parades. But this was his first as a Shriner, so he had to pay his dues as a newbie and dress appropriately.

Power nap

After finishing the 2.2 mile trek through the parade, Dave Colgan of Dublin, Ireland was feeling a little pain. Colgan marched with the Irish Air Corps Pipe Band.

“I’m not feeling too healthy right now,” Colgan said.

Asked if it was tough getting up after a night of partying, Colgan replied: “I don’t know if we actually went to bed last night, so we didn’t have to get up. I’m going to take a power nap and then we’ll go out and have a few more beers.”

A good time

Wendy Starnes of Richmond Hill attended her second St. Patrick’s Day Parade and was stationed at the end of the route, next to Madison Square.

“You can tell some of the energy has dwindled from some in the parade,” Starnes said. “But I was impressed with the band from Florida (The Awesome Original Second Time Arounders Marching Band), they were a little older, but they had a lot of energy.”

The best

Savannah High band member Danarius Jones was banging his cymbals at the end of the route with a broad smile on his face.

“I feel wonderful, it was tough going the distance, but it was nothing compared the Hell Week we had at the start of the school year when we went through nine hour days of practicing,” Jones said. “We are the best band in the land, and we pushed each other to perform well in the parade today.”

Old man

Dennis Brady, a bagpiper with the Police Pipe and Drum Corps of Florida, was understandably winded after performing through the grueling 2.2 mile course.

“As soon as we would take a break, people would be yelling for us to play again,” said Brady, 60. “It was as tough as running a marathon, I feel like I’m about 70 years old right now.”

Kissing bandits

A group of four St. Vincent’s students — Clair Lacombe, Anna Markey, Anna Durham and Jessie Pagan — had bright lipstick on so they could jump out and peck parade marchers on the cheek.

Durham said she had kissed four, including her boyfriend, Jason Kolbush, of Benedictine. Markey said she led the group with five kisses. Lacombe said she had kissed four, two whom she knew and two others that approached her.

“That number will rise hopefully because some of the Benedictine boys haven’t come by yet,” Lacombe said.

“It was tough, but it’s fun to entertain the crowd,” said Sarah Lentz, who has been in the parade since she was 9. The sisters will be competing in the world championships coming up in April in Belfast.

Permanently parked

Alan and Betty Burns of Savannah had a fantastic perch to watch the parade go by. They sat in chairs on the second deck of an outside stairwell at the Wells Fargo bank at Bull and York streets. Alan Burns is a financial adviser there.

While Betty noted the great view of the parade, Alan added that they are watching the stairwell, making sure people safely climb and descend the stairs.

“You have to be careful,” he said. “You don’t want anybody to get hurt.”

About the only “negative” was the Burns’ convenient parking spot at the foot of the bank.

“I’m parked right there,” he said. “I’m not getting out until the parade’s over.”